Birmingham, Alabama’s Fox affiliate has reported that Mayor Larry Langford was arrested by the FBI at 7 a.m. Monday, but the reason for the arrest has not been made public.
The article goes on to say that the FBI will make a further announcement later this morning.
The arrest comes on the heels of a lawsuit involving Langford and two others made by the Securities and Exchange Commission with respect to $150,000 Langford received while serving on the Jefferson County Commission.
Langford is quoted in the article as saying the charges are “false and misleading.”
Of course Langford, is innocent until proven guilty. However, embezzlement these days is a fairly common practice. Where it used to be somewhat shocking, betrayal of position for money today is very common.
In my own life, I have seen people I know steal $35,000 and $56,000 from both retail and public service jobs. A young man I know embezzled $15,000 and was caught by the FBI. The sad thing is that he said he didn’t even need the money.
In researching information about Larry Langford, I found a very contradictory fellow, perhaps a bit of a dreamer.
Langford has, for some time, indicated that he intended to seek higher office. Unfortunately when there was the bankruptcy of Visionland, a theme park Langford backed, Langford began to diminish in the eyes of voters.
What makes the current charges even more interesting is the fact that Langford has dramatic Christian beliefs. In fact, he has been criticized for having Bible study with city workers.
Further, Langford had all Christian leaders pray for Birmingham to ask God to forgive the city.
Finally, Langford refused to allow the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual and Tran-gendered) communities have their annual Pride Parade.
Langford is obviously a very opinionated man. Further, he has no problem following what he thinks is right even if it goes against popular thought.
Larry Langford is not new to politics nor is he a feint-of-heart politician who would jump on an illegal scheme out of fear.
It is hard at this point to know why Langford would put himself in such a position unless it is for the oldest reason…greed.
Further details will be unfolding soon.
References:
http://www.myfoxal.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=7976053&version=6&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=3.2.1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Langford
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT
